Turkish student gets suspended jail sentence for retweeting satirical article on Twitter

Meral Tutcali was handed a one year suspended prison sentence for retweeting a satirical article

A Turkish student was given a one-year suspended jail sentence for insulting a local governor after she retweeted a satirical article, as part of a continuing crackdown against the government of President Erdogan.

Meral Tutcali, a student at Anadolu University in the north western city of Eskişehir, retweeted an article published on Turkish satirical news website Zaytung, the equivalent of the UK's Daily Mash.

The article showed a picture of governor Huseyin Avni Cos in a military vehicle surrounded by guards, with the headline "Adana Governor Huseyni Avni Cos has declared his autonomy."

The governor complained to the police, who then raided Tutcali's home and detained her. She was sentenced yesterday to one year in prison for "insulting a public servant", which the court suspended as she had no previous criminal record.

Speaking to Turkish news agency Dogan, Tutcali said: "This ruling is just part of a policy to intimidate those who have different views."

"I don't think I deserve such a sentence, but I haven't yet given up my hopes of a brighter future."

Tutcali's sentence is another in a long string of prosecutions over the last few years against people who criticise the government on social media

Hundreds were arrested for spreading information about protest movements during the waves of protest that went through the country in 2013 and beyond.

Erdogan has called social media "the worst menace to society", and sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were blocked in the country last month during the run-up to the general election in June.

In response to the blocking, internet security firm AnchorFree offered free and unlimited use of their app Hotspot Shield in Turkey, allowing citizens to easily bypass the government's internet block.